Importing Data Made Easy
Importing data is a problem that feels like it should have a library of work ready for you to use. Especially when it comes to importing data into Core Data where you have a description of your data to work with. What if there was such a library, or reusable framework, of importing code that basically converts raw data to Core Data entities? Well, wonder no further because in this post, I’ll be discussing a new addition to the MagicalRecord toolset, MagicalImport available now on Github!
Unit Testing with Core Data
Whether you subscribe to Test Driven Development (TDD) or another testing practice, when it comes automated unit testing with Core Data, things can be a little tricky. But if you keep it simple, and take things step by step, you can get up and running with unit testing using Core Data fairly quickly. We’ll explore the what, how and why of unit testing with Core Data. We’ll also be using the helper library MagicalRecord. MagicalRecord not only lets us get up and running faster, but helps to cut down on the noise in our tests.
Transient Entities and Core Data
Core Data has many features, one of which is the Transient attribute. This type of attribute on a Core Data entity is part of a data model, but is not persisted in your Core Data persistent store. If you open up the raw SQLite store file and peek at the schema, you will not find any transient attributes. These transient attributes are still handy despite no data being persisted to the data store. One useful scenario is when a value is calculated based on other attributes. This calculation can be performed in an entity’s awakeFromFetch method, and stored at run time in this transient attribute.
One scenario I’ve been asked about on more than one occasion recently is that of temporary, or transient entities. It seems that more and more developers have a need for temporary, or transient instances of entities in your Mac or iOS apps. Having temporary object instances can be useful and necessary in certain situations. Unfortunately, Transient Entities do not technically exist within the Core Data framework, however there are simple solutions to add temporary, un-persisted, data within the context of Core Data. Let’s go over some methods to effectively use the concept of Transient, or more appropriately Temporary Entities in Core Data without direct built-in support.
Core Data and Threads, Without the Headache
I know I mentioned we would talk about customizing the fetch requests, however, I have been working on some code related to the Active Record Fetching project, which I am renaming to MagicalRecord, that is also just as useful as fetching–threading.
Whenever most cocoa developers mention threading and Core Data in the same sentence, the reaction I see most often is that of mysticism and disbelief. For one, multithreaded programming in general is hard–hard to design correctly, hard to write correctly, and debugging threads is just asking for trouble. Introducing Core Data into that mix can seem like the straw that broke the camel’s back. However, by following a few simple rules and guidelines, and codifying them into a super simple pattern, one that may be familiar to you, we can achieve safer Core Data threading without the common headaches.
Super Happy Easy Fetching in Core Data
First up, I want to thank Matt Long and Marcus Zarra for allowing me to guest post on CIMGF. This post is the first in a short series of topics describing how to I’ve made using Core Data a little simpler without giving up the power features you still need. The full project from which this series is derived is available on github.
Core Data, for both iPhone and Mac, is a very powerful framework for persisting your objects out of memory, and into a more permanent storage medium. With the enormous power of Core Data, it can be easy to slip into the trap of thinking that Core Data is very complex.